New Kingdom Egypt

New Kingdom Egypt (1532 BC-1070 BC) was the dynasty that ruled Egypt for 500 years after the fall of Middle Kingdom Egypt. Egypt gained its greatest territorial extent during the New Kingdom, and it expanded south into Nubia and north against the Hittite Empire. They were conquered by the Kingdom of Kush in 1070 BC.

Background
After flourishing for nearly 400 years, the Middle Kingdom declined in the 17th century BC. As officials in the countryside became increasingly independent and new groups migrated into the Nile Delta, central authority broke down and Egypt entered a period of political fragmentation and economic decline. In 1640 BC the Asiatic Hyksos ("Princes of Foreign Lands") attacked Egypt from their lands in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine, and they conquered Egypt. However, unlike the Kassites in Babylon, the Hyksos were still considered to be foreigners, and they were eventually overthrown by Kamose and Ahmose, who founded the New Kingdom.

New Kingdom
Egypt was aggressive and expansive under the New Kingdom, and they extended their territory north into Syria and Palestine and south into Nubia, winning access to timber, gold, copper, taxes, and tribute payments. They gained a buffer zone from attack, and in Nubia Egyptians forced the nativepopulation to adopt Egyptian language and culture. In Syria-Palestine, Egypt stationed garrisons at strategically-placed forts and supported cooperative local rulers. Egypt fully participated in the diplomatic and commercial networks linking Western Asia, and under Queen Hatshepsut (r. 1473-1458 BC) the Egyptians headed to the land of Punt and returned with ebony, ivory, cosmetics, live monkeys, and panther skins. Hatshepsut celebrated in words and pictures at her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, and she bolstered her claim to the throne due to the success of the expedition.

Under Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV, who changed hisname to spread his belief in Aten asthe primary god), Egypt invented monotheism, the belief in one exclusivegod. He reasserted the superiority of the king over the priests and renewed belief in the king's divinity, and he built a new capital at Amarna between Memphis and Thebes. Thousands of Egyptians were sent to construct the site and serve the ruling elite, and Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti, and their daughters were depicted in painting. Akhenaten's reforms were resented by officials and priests who were linked to the traditional system and the traditional temples were reopened, Amon reinstated as chief god, the capital returned to Thebes, and the kingship weakened by the priests.

The Ramessides returned to the policy of conquest and expansion that Akhenaten neglected, with Ramesses II reigning from 1290 to 1224 in 66 years of conquest, and he had many wives and father more than a hundred children. He fought the Hittites to a draw at the battle of Kadesh in 1285 BC, and during his rule trade flourished. After 1500 BC, Egyptians began to use camels, having already used horses before 1600 BC after they reached Mesopotamia through the Zagros Mountains in 2000 BC. Egypt fell to the Kingdom of Kush in 1070 BC after its infrastructure decayed, and the Kushites ruled for a while.